- Source
- Herodotus. Godley, Alfred Denis, editor. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann, Ltd., 1920-1925 (printing).
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:9.44.1-9.44.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
Under the cover of night, Alexander, king of Macedon, secretly approaches the Athenian outposts and requests to speak with the generals.
μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἐπειρώτησιν τῶν χρησμῶν καὶ παραίνεσιν τὴν ἐκ Μαρδονίου νύξ τε ἐγίνετο καὶ ἐς φυλακὰς ἐτάσσοντο. ὡς δὲ πρόσω τῆς νυκτὸς προελήλατο1 καὶ ἡσυχίη ἐδόκεε εἶναι ἀνὰ τὰ στρατόπεδα καὶ μάλιστα οἱ ἄνθρωποι εἶναι ἐν ὕπνῳ, τηνικαῦτα προσελάσας ἵππῳ πρὸς τὰς φυλακὰς τὰς Ἀθηναίων Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Ἀμύντεω, στρατηγός τε ἐὼν καὶ βασιλεὺς Μακεδόνων, ἐδίζητο τοῖσι στρατηγοῖσι ἐς λόγους ἐλθεῖν.
After the inquiry concerning the oracles and the exhortation from Mardonius, night fell, and they were stationed at their outposts. When the night was far advanced, and quiet seemed to reign throughout the camps, and the men were especially asleep, at that time, Alexander the son of Amyntas, being a general and king of the Macedonians, rode up on his horse to the outposts of the Athenians and sought to enter into conversation with the generals.
τῶν δὲ φυλάκων οἱ μὲν πλεῦνες παρέμενον, οἳ δʼ2 ἔθεον ἐπὶ τοὺς στρατηγούς, ἐλθόντες δὲ ἔλεγον ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἥκοι3 ἐπʼ ἵππου ἐκ τοῦ στρατοπέδου τοῦ Μήδων, ὃς ἄλλο μὲν οὐδὲν παραγυμνοῖ ἔπος, στρατηγοὺς δὲ ὀνομάζων ἐθέλειν φησὶ ἐς λόγους ἐλθεῖν.
Of the guards, the majority remained at their posts, while others ran to the generals, and having arrived, they said that a man had come on a horse from the camp of the Medes, who revealed no other word, but, naming the generals, said he wished to enter into conversation with them.
- 9.44.1πρόσω τῆς νυκτὸς προελήλατο
προελήλατο is the third-person singular pluperfect middle/passive of προελαύνω (to drive forward, advance). It is used here either impersonally or with an implied subject ἡ νύξ (the night), meaning "when the night was far advanced."
- 9.44.2οἳ δʼ
Although οἳ is the relative pronoun in form, it is used here as a demonstrative pronoun (equivalent to οἱ δέ) in contrast with οἱ μὲν, meaning "and others."
- 9.44.2ἥκοι
The optative ἥκοι (from ἥκω) is an optative of indirect discourse (oblique optative), triggered by the past tense of the governing verb ἔλεγον.